Windows Installer Keeps Trying To Install A Phantom

[Danno]

Hi all,

I've had a few issues with my computer lately, but for the most part it
seems stable enough that I can get it working well. According to my updated
anti-virus software the computer is clean.

But lately, when I try to open an Excel spreadsheet or a Word document,
Windows Installer pops up and says "preparing to install". Install what? I
don't know what it thinks it has to install and after about 60 seconds, the
window just disappears. I'm not certain, but I believe the Windows
Installer will pop up at other times as well.

Does anybody know what's causing this nuisance? Whatever it is, obviously
something's not right.

Thanks in advance for any advice about this.

Danno

 

[Danno]

I forget if I'm supposed to hit "reply" or "reply group", so forgive me if
this ends up in the wrong location.

Just one further note. I just rebooted my computer because I've had an
issue with PCTools Anti-virus. When I rebooted, it took approximately 2
minutes for the computer to settle down and the Windows Installer popped up
at re-boot. In fact, two instances of it popped up. And once again, after
approximately a minute, they just went away.

 

[Jose]

Hi all,

I've had a few issues with my computer lately, but for the most part it
seems stable enough that I can get it working well.  According to my updated
anti-virus software the computer is clean.

But lately, when I try to open an Excel spreadsheet or a Word document,
Windows Installer pops up and says "preparing to install".  Install what?  I
don't know what it thinks it has to install and after about 60 seconds, the
window just disappears.  I'm not certain, but I believe the Windows
Installer will pop up at other times as well.

Does anybody know what's causing this nuisance?  Whatever it is, obviously
something's not right.

Thanks in advance for any advice about this.

Danno

Sounds like some previous installation gone bad! Do you recall
installing antyhing lately that might not have gone smoothly?

Fortunately Microsoft has heard of this and offers this:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301

Try that (the easiest thing) first and please report back.

 

[Danno]

Thanks for responding Jose.

Yes indeed... I had a heck of a nasty time two nights ago trying to install
the software from Kodak's site that would get my new scanner working. I
spent over 4 hours trying to install that software and then doing repairs to
my operating system that it caused.
Thankfully I had a backup copy of my registry settings from a time when my
computer was working flawlessly.

I restored that registry backup and I thought things were fine. But now I
have this issue with Windows Installer. In fact, when I clicked on the link
you provided and tried to run the Installer Cleanup Utility, the Windows
Installer popped up and blocked msicuu2.exe from running.

At the moment I'm running sfc /scannow for no other reason that it seemed to
help me once or twice in the past. After sfc /scannow is finished, I'll try
to run the Installer clean-up utility again. In the meantime, I still have
a brand new Kodak scanner that's about as useful as blind watchman.

I'll post here what happens. Maybe you or someone else will be able to
provide some other suggestions too. It seems to me that about a month ago I
had to use msicuu2.exe and it worked fine. At that time, I had to seek the
services of one of the Hijack This forums because my internet had slowed to
a crawl due to some infection that to this day I still don't know what it
was. But with guidance from the forum, I got rid of it... whatever it was.

Of course I still have that good backup of my registry. By the way, I tried
system restore after that nightmare experience with Kodak's software, and
the system refused to restore my computer to the state it was in on the date
I'd selected. So it looks to me that my system restore is now corrupted as
well.

Thanks again. Stay tuned, ok?

Danno

Hi all,

I've had a few issues with my computer lately, but for the most part it
seems stable enough that I can get it working well. According to my
updated
anti-virus software the computer is clean.

But lately, when I try to open an Excel spreadsheet or a Word document,
Windows Installer pops up and says "preparing to install". Install what? I
don't know what it thinks it has to install and after about 60 seconds,
the
window just disappears. I'm not certain, but I believe the Windows
Installer will pop up at other times as well.

Does anybody know what's causing this nuisance? Whatever it is, obviously
something's not right.

Thanks in advance for any advice about this.

Danno

Sounds like some previous installation gone bad! Do you recall
installing antyhing lately that might not have gone smoothly?

Fortunately Microsoft has heard of this and offers this:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301

Try that (the easiest thing) first and please report back.